Celebrate Mother's Day With Just Sweets

Andrea Reuben of Just Sweets tells us why her desserts are always Fair Trade Certified

Mother's Day 2011 is here, and we'd like to take a moment to thank all of our Fair Trade supporters and partners that work hard every day to improve the lives of mother's all around the world. Thanks to Fair Trade, women farmers in developing countries have access to things like maternal health care, micro-loans, education, community leadership, equality, etc...things many of them never thought they would see in their lifetime.

Why is Fair Trade such an important part of your business?

I want to ensure there is no separation between how wonderful Just Sweets desserts taste and how their ingredients are sourced. My goal is to continue to “bake up” a good business. For me it is about practicing an ethical business model as much as it is about baking fabulous luxury desserts. Sustainable luxury is our focus – sustainable for people, sustainable for business, sustainable practices for the earth in a luxurious dessert that satisfies your sensibilities and your sweet tooth. From the ingredients in the finished product right down to the packing materials selected, I am devoted to a sustainable system of social and economic justice. Fair Trade provides a frame work to ensure my business model and ingredients are on the right track.

If someone wants to bake Fair Trade desserts at home, what ingredients should they look for?

There are so many fabulous options out there and growing! (Yeah Fair Trade!) Sugar, vanilla, chocolate, cocoa, and coffee are readily available favorites. I also like to incorporate Fair Trade ingredients you might not easily find unless you know about them, for example, organic fruit preserves made by Food for Thought . Their preserves make a great addition to many recipes and you can order them online.

What aspect of Fair Trade means the most to you?

I would be hard pressed to pick just one. Success in abundance is a beautiful thing! I would never want success at the cost of someone else. Fair Trade to me means that we grow our success together, at our own pace, in our own places. In ways that are equitable and meaningful to each of us. In Fair Trade there is room for each individual story and our story as people working together for abundant success.

Dessert That's Worth It

What makes dessert truly memorable? Is it the ingredients, aroma or texture that we love to the point of euphoria? Now your dessert can be a true pleasure from harvest to the last decadent morsel! Meet Andrea Reuben, founder of Just Sweets, a baker of luxury desserts produced with Fair Trade certified ingredients and lover of all things fair! A baker since childhood, Andrea creates luscious, sweet and semi sweet desserts that incorporate Fair Trade Certified ingredients such as vanilla, chocolate, cocoa and sugar.

Sweet, Sophisticated and Sustainable

Just Sweets, a dessertery in St. Louis, Missouri, bakes up the harvest of fair trade farmers to create extraordinary desserts that transform lives. Experience the art of yum with outrageous, sustainable, dessert luxury in every bite. Order one luscious dessert at a time or make a delicious commitment as a subscriber. Either way a Just Sweets desserts purchase ensures fair trade cocoa, sugar and vanilla farmers live a sweeter life of sustainable practices and living wages. Fair Trade Certified TM ingredients translate into living wages that provide food, shelter, clean water, good health, education and build strong families who succeed. To find out more about Just Sweets, the difference Fair Trade Certified ingredients make in the lives of developing-world farmers like the cocoa farmers of CACVRA cooperative of Peru, South American sugar cane farmers from Canera del Sur in Paraguay and Kasinthula Cane Growers in Malawi, full ingredient lists and baker Andrea Reubin visit: www.JustSweetsDesserts.com.